The word and the fruit
The tree and the fruit
To begin, we'll go to Matthew 12: 33-35. There Jesus Christ said:
Matthew 12: 33-35
"... because the fruit knows the tree ... Because of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man, from the good treasure of the heart brings good things; and the evil man, out of the evil treasure brings out bad things. "
Also Matthew 7: 16-18 says:
"By their fruits you will know them. Are grapes picked from thorns, or figs from thistles? Thus, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. The good tree can not bear bad fruit, nor the bad tree can bear good fruit. "
A fruit is always the result of the tree that is behind it. No fruit can be produced without a tree and no fruit can be different from the tree that produces it. The Lord uses this figure here to tell us that what a man gives is the result and the direct analogy of the treasure he has in his heart. A good treasure produces good fruit, and a bad treasure produces bad fruit. As in Proverbs 4:23 it says:
Proverbs 4:23
"Above all else, guard your heart; Because life springs from it. "
From the heart flows life, that is, the results, the fruit that we give in our lives. The heart and what is inside of it determine the fruits that will come out of it.
The Word and the fruit
Having seen that the result we give in our lives depends on the treasure kept in our hearts, and assuming that we all want to bear good fruit, we will continue to see the proper treasure for this fruit. To see them we will go to Proverbs 4:20. There God, speaking as Father, says:
Proverbs 4: 20-21
"My son, listen to my words; Tilt your ear to my reasons. Do not turn away from your eyes; Keep them in the middle of your heart "
Our Father calls us to PAY ATTENTION TO HIS WORDS TO TIP OUR EARS TO HIS REASONS. TO KEEP THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR HEARTS. As we saw previously, the treasure that is in our hearts determines the fruit we give in our lives. This is valid for the Word of God also. It also bears fruit when it is kept in our heart. The type of fruit that it gives, comes in verse 21, where we read:
Proverbs 4: 21-22
"Do not turn away from your eyes; Keep them in the middle of your heart; Because they are life to those who find them, And medicine to their whole body. "
The words of God held in the heart are life and health. As Jesus said in Matthew 4: 4:
Matthew 4: 4
"He answered and said: It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
It is impossible for man to live without the Word of God. And to bear good fruit of the Word, you have to keep it in your heart. As Jesus again said, explaining the well-known parable of the sower.
Luke 8: 11-15
"This is, then, the parable: The seed is the word of God. And those on the side of the road are those who hear, and then the devil comes and takes the word out of his heart, so that they do not believe and be saved. Those on the stone are those who, having heard, receive the word with joy; but these have no roots; they believe for some time, and at the time of the test they depart. The one that fell among thorns, these are the ones that hear, but going away, they are drowned by the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life, and they do not bear fruit. But those who fell on the good ground, these are those who with a good and upright heart keep the word heard, and bear fruit with perseverance. "
The Word of God heard and kept with a noble and good heart is what gives good fruit, abundant life, exactly as God wants us to have (John 10:10).
Fruit: What is it?
To put it easy I would say that fruit is a changed life, centered in Christ, a life in which we have died to ourselves so that Christ can live through us (Galatians 2: 19-20). A life that seeks to please God and not oneself or people; a life whose central theme and priority is God. Let's see what the Scripture says:
Galatians 5: 22-25
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; Against such things there is no law. But those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with their passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. "
What he means by spirit is the new man, Christ in us. Living according to the new man produces the fruit mentioned in the previous verses, the character of the new man is that which Christ has. Let's read Ephesians 2:10:
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
God has already prepared in advance the good works in which we must walk. Each one of us has given us unique gifts, like a tree planted and destined to bear fruit. The goal of this is to please the Father and bear fruit. As 1 Peter 4: 7: 11 says:
"But the end of all things is near; be sober, then, and watch in prayer. And above all, have fervent love among yourselves; because love will cover a multitude of sins. Host one another without murmuring. Each according to the gift he has received, minister it to others, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, speak according to the words of God; If anyone ministers, minister according to the power that God gives, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom the glory and the empire belong for ever and ever. Amen."
God has given unique gifts to each of His children. As each of the parts of the body is unique and put in place with a function, so also each of us: we have been placed by God in the body of Christ, the church, and we have each received unique gifts to function there (1 Corinthians 12: 12-27) And what Peter tells us here is simply one thing: IT WORKS! God has not given gifts to certain individuals only; He has not given gifts only to your pastor or priest. This passage does not refer to a specific group of people within the Christian community. On the contrary, it refers to all Christians, including you! Notice that he also says to minister to one another. I minister to you, you minister to me. Today we use the word "minister" to describe someone with a more than administrative role. Thus the pastor or priest of the local community of believers is called "minister". He is the only one who is supposed to be able to minister, while all the others who are not pastors or priests and who do not take part in the administration of the community are those who receive the ministry, but can they never minister? This is the idea that implicitly or explicitly resides in the minds of many. Well, the news is that this idea is not originated by God nor is it based on the Scriptures! The idea that Scripture promotes is the following: each one of us has been endowed by God in a unique way and in the same way has been placed in the body of Christ. In the Scriptures there are no such things as clergy or laity. As the Scriptures say, we are all priests of God. Let's see how Pedro puts it so wonderfully.
I do not know much about gardening, but I know since I was in school that for a plant to produce fruit it needs to be pruned from time to time. However, this is not a complete definition.
All plants need to be pruned. Every plant needs the farmer who will prune it and direct its growth to the desired form, which will take care of its health and remove the damaged parts and clean it so that it produces more fruit. The same is true for us as branches of the Vine that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We also need to be pruned and what do you think? We also have a farmer who takes care of it! Again John 15 says:
John 15: 1-2
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch that does not bear fruit in me will take it away; and every one that bears fruit shall cleanse it, that it may bear more fruit. "
The Father is the one who is in charge of pruning. Remember that it is necessary to prune, it has to be done! Without this important process we can not grow! And fortunately we have someone who takes care of it: our Father. He watches as a good and careful farmer and intervenes directing our growth removing obstacles and cleaning us so that we can produce more fruit! Do not you think it's wonderful !? Producing fruit is the result of staying in Christ; To produce to the maximum is a task of which the Father is in charge of pruning us. It is our duty to remain in the Vine and it is the Father's task to take care of any pruning that is necessary to increase our productivity.
Fruit: Priorities and fruitless life
To produce a lot of fruit brings, as we saw, all the glory to God. For which we need, as we have already seen in the Scriptures, to remain in the Vine, that is, to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Passionately yearning for a more intimate relationship with Him, as well as satisfying and pleasing Him. If this is the purpose, the effort of our life, then much more fruit will come out of it. But it is obvious that this implies that God and his agenda have to have priority number one in our lives, or to put it another way: if there is something that puts at risk our "fruit production" would be the danger of being distracted from the Vine ( Christ) to other things. As Jesus said in Matthew 6: 24-34:
Matthew 6: 24-34
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will esteem the one and despise the other. You can not serve God and riches. Therefore I say to you: Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, what you have to wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Behold the birds of the air, which do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than them? And who of you can, no matter how hard he tries, add an elbow to his height? And for the dress, why do you worry? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not work or spin; But I tell you, not even Solomon with all his glory dressed as one of them. And if the grass of the field that today is, and tomorrow it is thrown into the furnace, God dresses it like this, will it not do much more to you, men of little faith? Do not worry, then, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? Because the Gentiles seek all these things; but your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So, do not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will bring your eagerness. Sufficient for each day its own evil. "
The Word was sown but became sterile, unfruitful. Why? Because other things came in and ended with her. What things? The cares, the deceitfulness of the riches and what in general is called as the desires by other things. All this is nothing more than distractions that steal the fruit and in this case they steal it completely. At the end of the day we have to decide who we are going to serve, what we want to do with our lives. Do we want to spend our lives in fruitless distractions, in what the world "the gentiles" seek? Or do we want our lives to bear fruit, much fruit for the glory of God? What do you choose? I have chosen the second one.